Daybreak
by bklue18
Summary: Based off the video game, Until Dawn. I do not own any character except my own original character. A different take on the story from Until Dawn.
1. Chapter 1 - The Prank

"I wished you had come along for this Winter getaway... It would have been the first time we stayed over with my friends."  
"I know. I wished I went along too... But I promised I'd cover Chloe's duties at the shelter."  
"Ugh. Sometimes I wish you weren't so nice."  
"Well, if I wasn't so nice, I wouldn't have met you, right?"

"Hey, JOSH!"

Holding the phone to his ear, he turned around to see his sister, Beth, waiting for him with her hands on her hips.

She looked at the phone. "Could you speed up your sweet talk with my future sister-in-law?"

Josh tried to cover the receiver just as Beth yelled the last four words. "What-Are you crazy? Shut up!"

Beth laughed just as her brother pushed her away. As soon as she was out of range, he uncovered the receiver and sighed. "Sorry 'bout that."

"No, no. It's fine." She said. "Say hi to Beth for me."

"You didn't hear what she said, right?" Josh asked.  
"Oh, you mean possibly being married to you in the future?" She replied.

He felt his heart race as his palms begin to sweat. "I-She was-She was just joking."

"So you mean you never thought of our future together, huh?" She said.

"What! No-I mean-We've been together for almost a year and I-"

She chuckled, stopping Josh from rambling on. "Josh. Relax. I know Beth meant it as a joke. It's okay."

Josh felt a wave of relief even though he already had an answer in his heart.

"So, anyway, I've gotta go and it seems like you've gotta go too. We'll talk later, yeah?" She said.

"Yeah." Josh replied. "I love you."

He could almost see her smile over the phone. "I love you too."

* * *

"Gotta have my girl's back!"

The Asian girl with black hair laughed. "Are you sure we should do this, Jessica?"

"Uh-Yes, Emily. We should. Anyone trying to mess with my friend's man gets it." Jess said.

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"Oh, relax Sam." A tall African-American boy said. "We're not doing anything to harm her. We are just having a little fun."

"Yeah, and besides, Mike is my man. Nobody gets to look at him thinking otherwise." Emily said.

Sam looked at the tall Caucasian boy. "Mike, please say you think this isn't a good idea."

He shrugged. "I kinda agree with Matt here. It's harmless fun. What could possibly happen?"

"I think it'll be okay."

"You too, Ashley?" Sam sighed, putting her hands in the air. "You know what? I give up. You guys enjoy being assholes. I'm not going to be a part of this."

The girls ignored Sam as they giggled, hurrying into a room with the boys, to assume their positions for their prank. 

* * *

"Hannah?"

Beth walked into the kitchen, looking for her twin sister. They'd promise to do the dishes together but Hannah seemed to have disappeared. She looked at her brother, Josh, and his best friend, Chris, passed out on the breakfast bar.

She rolled her eyes as she picked up a beer bottle. "Great. If you can't hold your liquor, don't drink it."

Putting the bottle back onto the bar top, she sees a piece of paper by the side. She picks it up to read the contents.

 _'Hannah,_

 _You look so damn hot in that shirt... but I bet you're even hotter out of it. Come to the guest room at 2.00am ;)_

 _Mike XXX'_

"Oh no. What did our silly sister get into this time." Beth breathed.

She put the note down and headed straight to wake her brother.

"Josh." She said. "Josh. Wake up!"

No matter how hard she shook Josh, he was passed out drunk and wouldn't get up. Looking at Chris, she contemplated waking him up but what was the point? They both couldn't take their alcohol so trying to wake Chris up was going to be useless. She figured she would try to find her on her own.

Just as she was headed out of the kitchen, she saw Sam and the others whizz past her. She hurried after them till they stopped at the front door. Beth pushed pass them as she yelled into the cold, blowing Winter wind.

"HANNAH!"

Beth turned around. "What did you do?!"

"Hannah ran off after these jerks made fun of her." Sam said.

Beth looked at the rest. "What?!"

"It was just a prank, Beth." Emily said. "We didn't expect her to react like this."

"You guys are such assholes!" Beth exclaimed.

She went to grab her jacket by the door and put it on before running out after her sister, despite the others telling her not to.

Sam looked at the rest. "I hope you're happy now."

"It isn't our fault Hannah couldn't take a joke." Matt said.  
"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Sam said.

She pushed pass them and went to grab her coat. Putting it on, she came back out. Mike lightly held her back just as she was about to step off the porch.

"Where are you going?" Mike asked.

"To find them." Sam replied. "I'm not going to just stand here and wait for something to happen to them.

"Sam, are you crazy?" Jessica said. "It looks like a blizzard out there!"

"Beth and Hannah are out there!" Sam shouted.  
"I know but if we all get split up, it's not going to help anyone." Emily said.  
"Exactly. Besides, Beth is resourceful. They'll be fine alone for a couple of hours." Mike said.  
"At least let's wait until the wind dies down." Matt said.

Sam looked at Beth's tracks and looked back at her friends. "Fine."

Just as she walked back in after her friends, she turned back to look at the footprints as she whispered under her breath. "Please be safe, guys."

* * *

"BETH!"

She looked down at her hysterical twin sister. "Hold on, Hannah!"

Beth looked back up as she felt her hand slipping on the rock she was gripping onto. Just then, a masked face popped into her view and looked right at her, with his arm outstretched.

Weighing her options, she realized there was no way she was going to take this person's hand without first dropping the extra weight. Glancing down at her sister's frightened face again, she knew she had no other choice.

"I'm sorry, Hannah."

With that said, she released the grip she had on the rock and fell with her sister.


	2. Chapter 2 - Dylan's Arrival

"Dylan!"

Amidst the new batch of officials gathered at the Mountain, Sam managed to spot the girl with a chestnut brown pixie-cut among the crowd. Dylan turned and saw Sam waving from the steps of the lodge porch.

Dylan pushed past two Mountain rangers who were talking into their walkie-talkie, and ran up towards Sam.

"I got here as fast as I could." Dylan said. "Is there any news?"

Sam shook her head. "No.. Everyone's still out there. But we've got nothing on Hannah and Beth."

"Then what are we standing here for?" Dylan asked. "Let's go find them."

* * *

Sam and Dylan wandered down the path their friends had taken, eventually meeting up with several of them.

"Dylan!" Ashley exclaimed, running over to give her a hug.

"Hey Ash." Dylan said. "Where's Josh?"

"We split up from them." Emily said. "He went further down the path with Chris."

Dylan nodded and as soon as Ashley let her go, she turned to look at Mike. "What did you do?"

"What do you mean what did I do?" Mike asked. "Why has it always got to be me?"

"Because you always enjoy being the douchebag of the group." Dylan said. "So tell me. What did you do?"

Mike was about to defend himself again when Ashley interrupted. "It's not just Mike who was involved, Dyl. We all were."

"It was just a stupid prank." Emily said. "We didn't expect Hannah to freak out like that."

"Didn't it ever occur to you that pranking someone in the middle of nowhere is not a good idea?" Dylan said.

Emily bit back a comment as she shifted her weight onto her left leg.

"And using Hannah as your subject?" She said. "I can't believe you guys."

Ashley bit gnawed her bottom lip, feeling the immense guilt hit her like a freight train. She wanted to feel like she wasn't exactly responsible but since she was in the room with the others, the guilt only felt worse.

Not waiting for the others to answer, she pushed pass Mike as she started to make it further down the path towards where Josh and Chris were.

Just before she took another step, she turned around to look at them. "If anything should happen to Hannah and Beth, I hope you can live with yourselves."

Ashley felt like she could burst into tears. She knew she shouldn't have joined in but as it is, she was already the uncool one of the group. She only participated because She had to make sure they continued staying friends with her. Sam lightly squeezed her shoulder before hurrying down the path to join Dylan.

As soon as Sam was out of earshot, Emily turned to look at Ashley. "Oh please, Ashley. If you start crying, I swear we will just leave you out here on your own."

She walked up a few steps. "Now come on! We've got 2 missing people to find."

* * *

"They're over there."

Sam pointed at Chris, who seemed to be just standing and watching somebody, unable to do anything. The two girls walked up behind him and Sam reached out to tap him.

"Chris."

He jumped and turned around. "Dylan! You made it!"

"I don't think that's the kind of welcome I expected." Dylan said.  
"Well, sue me if I'm trying to put a bit of positivity into things now." Chris said.

"How's the search coming along?" Sam asked. "Anything?"

Chris sighed as he shook his head.

"Where's Josh?" Dylan asked.

Chris pointed at a crouching figure a few steps away from them. "See that thing over there? That's Josh."

Dylan looked over and frowned. "Is he not wearing any jacket?"

Chris shook his head. "Nope."

She looked at him. "What? How long has he been outside without any coat?"

"A while..." Chris said.  
"And you just let him stay out here without one?" Dylan questioned accusingly.

"Hey, I tried to put his coat on him but he pushed me away really hard." Chris said. "I even had to dodge a punch from him."

"Well, can you blame him?" Sam said.

"I was just trying to help him." Chris said. "Besides, I wasn't a part of the reason why Hannah ran away."

"That's not helping." Sam argued.  
"You started it." Chris argued back.

Not wanting to listen to Chris and Sam go back and forth with each other, Dylan took the coat from Chris' arm and hurriedly walked over to Josh.

"Josh?"

He didn't move.

She walked closer to him and was able to see him clearly. He was seated on the ground staring out at the path before him, a despondent look on his face. Dylan had never seen Josh like this before. He had always been a ray of sunshine to her - albeit a shy one.

She felt like her heart was being squeezed as she slowly crouched down next to Josh.

Seeing Josh shivering but not moving to counter the shivers, she hurriedly put on the coat she had taken from Chris, onto his shoulders.

He flinched and growled. "I thought I told you to-"

"It's me."

Upon hearing her voice, Josh immediately turned to look at Dylan. Seeing his disheveled look and bloodshot eyes, she couldn't even begin to imagine how hard the disappearance of his sisters must be for him.

"You're here." Josh said, looking at her with his softened gaze.

"Yeah. I came as soon as Sam called." Dylan said.

She touched the side of his cold right cheek. "Are you okay? Goodness, you're freezing!"

Dylan hurriedly rubbed her hands together to create some sort of heat as she tried to give Josh some warmth.

"They're gone, Dyl." Josh said. "And it's my fault."

Dylan shook her head as she carried on with her mission. "Don't say that, Josh. It's not your fault. Nothing's happened to them, okay? We'll find them."

He held onto her hands, stopping her. "If I hadn't gotten so wasted with Chris, I would have been able to stop them from running off."

She slipped her hand into his palms. "You have to have faith, Josh. I'm sure they didn't run off far. You know how resourceful Beth is right? Maybe she found shelter somewhere and they are waiting for us to bring them back."

Josh held Dylan's hand tightly. "You think so?"

"We won't know unless we get you warmed up so that you can continue searching for them." Dylan said.

He slowly nodded and the both of them stood up together. "You're right. I have to continue searching for them."

"We should get you back to the house first. You have been out here for a while without any coat." Dylan said.

Josh put on the coat that was draped on his shoulders properly. "I can't afford to go back. I need to continue the search."

Dylan looked at Sam and Chris, who had stopped bickering and were looking at the two of them intently. She looked back at Josh, who had now walked up a few steps ahead.

"Are you coming?" Josh asked, putting out his hand for her to hold.

Dylan nodded and ran up a few steps to hold his hand as they hiked downhill in search of Hannah and Beth, with Sam and Chris following after them.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Help

Dylan entered the Washingtons' home as she always did since they got back from the search in the mountains.

It had been 3 months since their return and seeing how Josh needed her support, his parents gave her a set of keys to check in on him when they couldn't. She had been over so often that sometimes, she stayed over.

Ever since the reality of not being able to find the twins sunk in, Josh hadn't been the same. He kept to himself on some days while behaving like he normally would on other days. It was like a lottery with Josh; no one knew which side of him they'd see. But that never happened to Dylan. With her by his side, he just saw a grieving brother who needed her support. She never bore witness to the 2-sided view of Josh.

To be surprised by what Josh's parents had to tell her, was an understatement.

"Oh-Dylan, you're here." Mrs Washington said. "Good. We-We need to tell you something."

She looked at her husband, waiting for him to take up from where she left off. He pressed the bridge of his nose slightly before gesturing to the seat in front of them at the dining table. "Please Dylan. Have a seat."

She unwound her scarf from around her neck and pulled it off, hanging it on the side of the chair with her satchel as she sat down.

"Mr and Mrs Washington.." She said. "Is everything okay?"

But before they could answer her, Dylan's thoughts entered the dark side and she hurriedly added. "Is Josh okay?!"

His parents looked at each other slightly surprised, before looking back at her.

Mr Washington nodded. "Yes, Josh is okay. He's in his room but, there's we need to tell you something first."

Dylan sat up straighter and placed her hands on the table, with her fingers laced together as if she's praying. "Wh-What's it about?"

Mrs Washington reached over and placed her hand on top of Dylan's. "It's about Josh, sweetie. We've decided to send him to see a psychiatrist."

Dylan jerked back in surprise. "You think Josh needs psych help?"

"For him to cope." Mr Washington said. "Ever since he returned from that mountain, he hasn't been the same. He's always giving us two sides to him and we.. we just can't handle that anymore."

Mrs Washington quickly took back her hand and looked like she was on the verge of crying. "We've already lost our daughters. We don't want to lose our son too."

Dylan slowly nodded, unsure of how to further continue the conversation. She wanted to tell them that the last thing he needs right now is psychiatric help. He's not going insane. He's just overcome with guilt and grief.

"We know you're probably thinking we're horrible parents." Mr Washington said. "But it's our only option and we're hoping you'll support him.. And us."

"Mr and Mrs Washington... I will support Josh. But I can't say that I support your idea." Dylan said.

She looked at both of them and felt guilty for the hurt look on their faces.

She swallowed and continued. "What Josh really needs right now is your care and support. He isn't going to get that if you send him off to see a psychiatrist. That's not going to help him."

"We're out of options, Dylan." Mr Washington said.

Mrs Washington sniffed as a tear escaped. "It's like Josh isn't our son anymore."

Even though Josh has never shown her any sign of that, Dylan has heard stories from Sam and the others when they came to visit him. Even Chris said he had that treatment once or twice.

She knew his parents meant well but she really couldn't be on board with their plan.

Dylan stood up, picking up her scarf and satchel. "I'm really sorry Mr and Mrs Washington... But I don't want anything to do with this psychiatrist plan."

Mrs Washington looked like she was about to protest but Mr Washington put his arms around her and pat her once before looking back at Dylan. "We understand. As long as you're by his side, we wouldn't ask for anything more."

* * *

Dylan walked into Josh's room and sees him reading a book. She smiled as she placed her scarf and satchel on his study table.

"Hey you." She said.

Josh looked up from his book and smiled. "Hey."

He put the book aside and motioned for her to come close to him. As she made her way over, he scooted aside to give her some space on the bed.

"Whatcha readin'?" Dylan asked, lacing her fingers with his.

He picked it up and showed it to her.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? I thought you read that before."

"I did." Josh said. "With Beth and Hannah. We read it in the voice of the different characters. Beth did a mean Professor Snape. And Hannah always loved playing Hermione..."

Dylan saw Josh's pained expression and squeezed his hand. "Hey... I know you miss them but don't blame yourself for what happened, okay?"

"I try not to, Dyl." He said. "But everytime I close my eyes, I picture them somewhere up in the mountains, cold and dead. And I just keep going back to thinking what I could have prevented if I hadn't been so drunk!"

"You have to stop beating yourself up over it, Josh." Dylan said. "You guys were having a good time. No one would have seen it coming."

"I should have." Josh said.

He looked at Dylan. "They were my sisters. Under my protection. And I failed them."

She reached over and cupped Josh's face. Her heart broke as she saw the helpnessness in his eyes. Why was he blaming himself for something that wasn't his fault? If the others hadn't pranked Hannah, this wouldn't have happened. Josh shouldn't be feeling the guilt, the others should.

She remembered telling Mike and the others to come clean about that night when they finally filled her in. But they just brushed her off. Sam was going to do it but she never got around to telling him about it.

Dylan looked at Josh and figured she has helped them to prolong their chances for too long. It wasn't fair to let him continue to take the blame for something he didn't know about.

"Josh." She said. "It really wasn't your fault Hannah and Beth ran out."

He frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"That night you got wasted with Chris, was the night when Jessica decided to pull a prank on Hannah. Mike, Emily, and Matt were in on it. Sam tried to stop them but they didn't listen to her." Dylan said.

His grip on Dylan's hand tightened. "What about Ashley?"

"She didn't want to be a part of it but they goaded her into joining them." Dylan said.  
"How long have you known?" Josh asked.

"I only knew the complete details last week." Dylan replied. "But I did suspect this was what happened when I came out to the mountains."

Josh threw Dylan's hand aside. "And you didn't think to share your suspicions with me?!"

Dylan got off his bed in surprise. This was the first time he had shouted at her and although she understood that it was her fault for not telling him what she suspected, she couldn't deny that it stung.

"I didn't want to jump to any conclusions." She said. "I'm sorry, Josh. I know I should have told you earlier. You're right to get mad at me."

In his frustration and anger, Josh picked up the cup from his side table and threw it in Dylan's direction. She screamed as she dodged the cup that went crashing onto the floor, missing her by a few inches. Dylan looked at the shattered pieces on the floor and looked up at Josh in disbelief and hurt.

His face crumpled as the realization of what he did slowly came to him.

"I'm-I'm sorry!" Josh exclaimed, getting out of bed. "I'm so sorry, Dylan!"

He reached out to touch her arm but she flinched when their skin made contact. Josh immediately stopped and let his hands drop to his side just his parents came crashing into his room.

"What hap-JOSH!" Mrs Washington exclaimed.

She hurried over to Dylan. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

Mr Washington looked at him. "Josh... What did you do?"

Dylan snapped out of her initial shock to answer his father. "Mr Washington, it's fine. I-I wasn't careful. I screamed in shock when I dropped the glass."

He looked at her. "Is that so?"

Dylan nodded. "Yup. Butter fingers. Josh was just coming over to help me."

Mrs Washington looked at Dylan before looking at a stricken Josh. "Alright then. You have to be careful, Dylan."

She nodded as she moved carefully away from the glass pieces around her.

"Why don't the two of you head out to the backyard while we clean this up?" Mr Washington said.

He looked at Josh. "A little sun might lighten the mood, right?"

Josh nodded. "Y-Yeah."

"I'm so sorry for the mess, Mrs Washington." Dylan said.  
"It's alright, dear." She replied.

Mrs Washington gave her arm a little squeeze and Dylan looked up to see her knowing look. She merely took a breath before walking out of Josh's room. As if taking her cue, he followed her out.

* * *

Feeling the warm sun on his skin, he let the scene in his room replay in his mind. He shouldn't have lost his cool. Dylan wasn't to blame for what happened. She wasn't even there. Yes, she should have told him what she thought might have happened but even if he concurred with his suspicions, he wouldn't have found out the truth either. Mike and the others would just keep dodging his questions or worse, blame Hannah for taking a prank too seriously.

Josh looked at Dylan, who sat on the swing, lightly moving front to back. He wanted to punch himself for taking out his anger on her. She was the only person who stood by him and cared for him relentlessly.

Maybe his parents were right. Maybe it was time for him to seek help. Or maybe, it was time to start seeking revenge for his sisters.

"Dyl?"

She looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." Josh said. "I shouldn't have done that to you. I'm such an idiot!"

He started to hit the front of his head with his hand until Dylan hurriedly stopped him.

"Hey-don't do that!" Dylan said.

She held his hands in hers. "You're not an idiot."

He looked at her. "I don't deserve you."

She frowned slightly. "Shut up, Joshua Washington. If this is your cheap attempt to get me to break up with you because of that, you're going to have to try even harder, hombre."

Josh laughed a little as he reached up to touch her cheek with his thumb. "I love you, Dylan Lee."

"And I love you, Joshua Washington." She said. "But throw another glass at me again, Imma whoop your ass."

Josh laughed before he figured it was time to tell her his decision.

"Hey Dyl..." He said. "I'm going to go see the psychiatrist next week."

Her face fell.

"My parents told me this morning and I kinda heard the conversation between you guys." Josh said.

He nudged her slightly. "I know you're my go-to-gal Dyl, but I need to talk to a professional too, right?"

She sighed as she pecked in on the lips. "Whatever you decide, I'll support you all the way."

He smiled. "I know you would."

"How about we go get something to eat?" Josh asked.  
"Ooo, someone's feeling outdoor-sy today." Dylan replied.  
"Yeah, it's about time I got out of the house." Josh said.

She smiled. "I'm glad to hear. Up for some pizza?"

"You read my mind." Josh said.

As Dylan led him towards the door, revenge was all he could think of. He needed time for his plans, and psychiatric help was the best cover he could think of.

Mike and the others were going to get what's coming to them.

One way or another.


End file.
